


A Smidge Too Far

by galacticmistake



Series: The Tour Gone Wrong (Febuwhump 2021) [10]
Category: The Beatles (Band)
Genre: FebuWhump2021, Gen, John Being an Asshole, Suicide mentions, concussion, mention of dropping babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticmistake/pseuds/galacticmistake
Summary: A night of joking and chumming around suddenly takes a dark turn. And George isn't quite sure if he'll be able to forgive and forget.(Febuwhump Day 10: “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”)(Modern Setting)
Relationships: George Harrison & John Lennon & Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr
Series: The Tour Gone Wrong (Febuwhump 2021) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139264
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	A Smidge Too Far

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: John being an asshole, suicide mentions, mention of dropping babies, concussion

The next day, the boys did a concert in Indianapolis, and it went so well that they decided to all have a mini celebration. John bought a case of beer from a corner store, Paul ordered some food off of room service, and Ringo and George congregated in John’s hotel room to let the festivities commence.

Once they finished a bevy of bar appetizers, they each took a bottle of beer and began cracking a series of jokes. It came naturally to John, Paul, and even Ringo, but George couldn’t quite seem to chime in and get anything out right. Paul and Ringo took this as evidence for George’s concussion, and decided to just laugh along anyway, since he was genuinely trying.

John, on the other hand, was not quite so gracious.

“Woah, woah, woah. Chill yourself, Geo. You’ll hurt yourself trying to keep up with that shit.” 

Ringo glared at John, trying to tell him to cut it out.

John didn’t budge, however.

“Eh, don’t worry about it, Rings. I don’t think George can tell his asshole from his armpit.”

“He can.” Ringo harshly whispered. “Now stop.”

“Not like he understands what we’re saying. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I would say that his mom dropped him pretty damn hard as a young lad.”

“...don’t joke about that.” Paul butted in.

“Who said I was joking?”

“Just… don’t. Try and stay away from that topic. Ok?”

“Fine.” John sighed, swigging his beer.

The mood quickly re-lightened as Paul joked about a girl he knew in Hamburg and her brute of a brother. Again, George desperately tried coming up with a punchline, but really only managed to call the dude “Popeye’s knockoff cousin”. It earned laughs from Paul and Ringo, as they fully enjoyed the comparison.

John was not amused, however. And this quickly turned to anger.

“Geo, if I can be honest here. If I were as stupid as you, I would have killed myself years ago.”

All of the energy in the room seeped out, and Paul and Ringo were left speechless. George, on the other hand, just grew more solemn.

“Trust me. I’ve thought about it. Even tried once or twice.” George said nonchalantly.

John was shocked into silence. He knew that George had his mental health struggles, but he never thought it stretched that far.

“I’m going back to my room. Nobody follow me, please. I need a few minutes.”

Everyone nodded, and George left with a bottle of beer.

=====================================================================

About half an hour later, Paul got an idea.

“John? I think you should try to apologize to George.”

“Why?”

“You hit him hard earlier, and I know him. He doesn’t let go of stuff easily. And unless you make the effort, he’ll never forgive you.”

“And that’s his problem, not mine.”

“Still. You hurt him, and so you should make the effort.”

John begrudgingly got up and went over to George’s room, where he found George in the bathtub with a broken bit of the beer bottle that he took with him. John sat on the edge of the bathtub.

“I’m sorry about what happened back there.”

George just sighed and set the piece of the bottle down.

“Sometimes, I wonder if you understand the impact of your words.”

The two sat silently for a minute. In the silence, John really thought about the implications of what he said, and now that he could see that George was truly hurt, he tried his best to formulate an appropriate apology.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“...as much as it would be acceptable to forgive you right now, I can’t.” George choked out tearfully.

John took this and left the room.


End file.
